HP Laserjet 4L on Macbook

You would be better off getting a new laser printer than spending money trying to use that old 4L. HP no longer even sells a parallel-USB cable. Some users have reported little if any success using one.

The HP LaserJet 1022 is an inexpensive USB based laser printer that lists for $180 after rebate.

The HP LaserJet 1022n is network ready and costs $270 after rebate.

Both support Mac OSX and have universal binary drivers available for use on Intel and PPC Macs.

You may find even lower prices shopping around online. The above prices are direct from HP's web site.

Along with Kappy's excellent advice.

I have one of those, too. Have had it since they first came out and it's been a steady workhorse. But when it came time to get its third toner cartridge, it just wasn't worth it (had it hooked up to my kid's Windows box). For the same cost as a replacement cartridge, I instead bought an HP 1018. With the rebate HP is still running, it only costs $65. Not only is it at least four times faster than the 4L, the resolution is 1200 dpi as opposed to the 4L's now archaic 300 dpi.

The 1018 is USB and has drivers for both Mac and Windows. Time to donate or ditch the 4L.

Interesting. I was going to suggest the 1018 but according to HP's site there were no drivers available for the Mac (and none came with OS X or GIMP.)

Oh, drat! You're right, Kappy. There are no drivers for the 1018 on the Mac (just looked on the CD). Sorry about that.

Kurt Lang wrote:
Oh, drat! You're right, Kappy. There are no drivers for the 1018 on the Mac (just looked on the CD). Sorry about that.

The LaserJet 1018 is one of those oddball printers that needs its firmware sent to it every time it is powered on. There are third party drivers that will allow this printer to work in Mac OS X. See http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX/foo2zjs

Matt

Best I can tell those Linux-based drivers are PPC-only and will not work on an Intel Mac.

Kappy wrote:
Best I can tell those Linux-based drivers are PPC-only and will not work on an Intel Mac.

I can guarantee that the Mac OS X package installer will install universal binaries for the drivers. They work well on both PPC and Intel Macs. The only drawback is having to load the firmware every time the printer is powered up.

There is a very long thread on this in the forums: http://forums.linux-foundation.org/read.php?37,662

Matt

OK, I see that now in the package description information. But GhostScript is still PPC-only apparently.

Kappy wrote:
But GhostScript is still PPC-only apparently.

Alas, that is correct. However, I have not heard of any problems with it running fine under Rosetta. Certainly the Intel Mac users I have had contact with in regards the HP 1018 have had no problem with Ghostscript.

I'm sure there will eventually be an updated, universal binary of Ghostscript.

Matt

Hi Kappy,

Even if GhostScript is PPC only, wouldn't it still work through Rosetta on an Intel based Mac?

Yes, I know. I was just clarifying my understanding that it was still PPC-only. It should work without any problem other than being slower than a universal binary version would be. But since printing is slow anyway that shouldn't be much of a hindrance.

Appreciate your bringing this information to the discussion, Matt.

Should work fine, Kurt, just a little slower.

Perhaps you will install these drivers and report on your success getting the 1018 to print. At $65 it's a really cheap laser printer!

Kappy wrote:
Appreciate your bringing this information to the discussion, Matt.

If you haven't visited the Mac OS X home page on the OpenPrinting site for a while, you might be surprised. There are quite a few newer Mac OS X packages that will get many otherwise unsupported printers to work.

http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX

Matt

Message was edited by: Matt Broughton

Perhaps you will install these drivers and report on your success getting the 1018 to print.

If I get a chance this week, I'll give it a try.